Coating machine



3 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed July 26 1945 Inventor March 22, 1949. H, COW'ARD 2,464,849

COATING MACHINE Filed July 26, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 W11? All Z8 Fig.9;

I n uentar my M March 22, 1949. w. H. COWARD 2,464,349

' comma MACHINE Filed July 26, 1945 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Patented Mar. 22, 1949 man s'mras PATENT OFFlCE COATING MACHINE William H. Coward, New Rochelle, N Y.

Application July 26, 1945, Serial No.- 607,163

1 Claim. 1

This invention relates to improvements in coatmg machines, and more particularly to a machine for producing a coating of pigment or the like on a sheet of material such as paper.

The primary object of the invention is a machine in which the thickness of the coating may be regulated and controlled within very close limits.

Another object is to coat strips of material which may vary in width from a relatively narrow strip, such, for instance, as one of one inch width, and which may be adjusted to take varying widths according to the stock which is to be coated.

Another object isto preserve the homogeneity of the coating material so as to prevent the heavier constituents from sinking to the bottom of the coating bath.

Among its features, my invention embodies a support having perforations inits upper face, across which a strip oi material to be coated is adapted to be moved, a coating material containing trough having a slot in its lower end through which the coating material may be discharged, said trough being adjustably supported above'the support in such a manner that the thickness of the coating material deposited on the strip passing across the support may be regulated, an adjustable partition within the trough by which the coating material may be confined to a restricted area thereof according to the width v of the strip of the material which is to be coated, and means for contacting the upper surface of the material to be coated adjacent its opposite edges to confine the coating material applied thereto to a restricted area thereof.

Other features embody suitable guide arranged on opposite sides of the support for engaging opposite side edges of the material which is to be coated and prevented it from moving longitudinally of the support, thereby holding it in proper position beneath the slot through which the coating material issues.

In the drawings- Figure 1 is a side view in elevation of a coating machine embodying this invention,

Figure 2 is a top plan view of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is an end view of Figure 1,

Figure 4 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 8-4 of Figure 1 showing a part of the partition wall broken away to more clearly illustrate the-details of construction,

Figure 5 is a vertical sectional view taken on the line 55 of Figure 1 showing the strip of materlal to be coated in place.

2 Figure 6 is a vertical sectional view through one of the partition walls,

Figure 7 is an enlarged detail sectional view through the support,

Figure 8 is a horizontal sectional view on an and carry, at their upper ends, knurled nuts for a purpose to be more fully hereinafter described.

A trough 2| comprising a V-shaped body 22 is provided, at opposite ends, with closures carrying horizontal extensions 23 at their upper ends which are pierced to receive the studs 19 so that the trough may be suspended in vertically adjustable position on the springs l8. As illustrated in Figures 4 and 5, the trough is of transverse V- shaped section and is provided, at its lower edge, with a slot 24 forming the exit passage through which the coating material which is adapted to be contained within the trough is deposited on the strip of material which is to be coated. The rear wall 25 of the trough is provided, adjacent its lower end, with a series of spaced openings 26,- the outer ends of which, open into a tubular channel 21, one end of which is closed, as at 28, while the opposite end is provided with a passage communicating with a nipple 29 to which an air hose is adapted to be attached.

Supported beneath the lower edge of the trough in longitudinal alignment with the slot 24 therein is a tubular support 30 which is formed, in its upper side, with a series of perforations 3|. Opposite ends of the support 30 are closed with plugs 32, one of which is provided w th a nipple 33 which opens, through a passage 34, to the interior of the support 30, while its opposite and carries a ribbed coupling 35 which is adapted to be attached to a suitable exhaust pump by means of which the interior of the tubular support 30 may be exhausted.

Attached to the standards IS on opposite sides of the trough 22, intermediate its upper and lower ends, is a pair of guide bars 36, each of which extends horizontally and carries a pair of brackets 31 which are adiustably secured to a the bars SI by means of set-screws ll. Each of these brackets is provided with a longitudinally extending slot 30 for the reception of an axle shaft 40 having, at one end, a head 4| and, at its opposite end, external screw threads for cooperation with a knurled nut 42. Rotatably mounted on the axle shaft 40, to one side of the bracket 31 through which it extends, is a stepped disk 43, the reduced portion 44 of which is adapted to engage the upper side of the strip of material to be coated adjacent its side edge, while the annular shoulder 45 is adapted to engage the side edge of the strip adjacent the surface which is contacted by the stepped portion 44. As will be understood upon reference to the drawings, these brackets 31 and the parts attached thereto may be readily moved to various adjusted positions along the bars 36 to serve as guides for the flexible material passing over the support 30, as will be clearly seen upon reference to Figure 5.

Secured adjacent the upper edges of the side walls of the trough 22 are guide bars 46, upon which one or more transversely extending, longitudinally movable support members 41' are adapted to slide. Each of these support members carries a partition wall 48 which is of triangular shape so that its side edges conform to the V-shaped side walls of the trough 22. Each such partition is provided with an internal, vertically extending bore 49 which opens out, through its upper end, and terminates at its lower end, in an enlarged bore iii. A plunger rod i extends through the bore 49 and is provided, adjacent its upper end, with screw threads which are adapted to be engaged by a knurled nut 52. The lower end of the plunger rod II is attached, as by screw threads 53, to a plunger 54 and surrounding the rod 5| between the upper end of the plunger and the shoulder formed by the junction of the bores 49 and 50 with a compression coil spring 55, by means of which the plunger 54 and rod 5| are urged downwardly. It will be understood that by adjusting the nut 52, the distance that the lower end of the plunger 54 projects below the partition wall may be regulated.

The end wall 56 of the trough 22' is provided with a vertically extending central bore, corresponding in all respects to the bore 49 and the enlarged bore 50 at the lower end of the partition wall 48, and fitted in the bores is a mechanism comparable to the rod 5! and plunger 54 contained in the partition walls 48 previously described. The rod is also provided, at its upper end, with an adjusting nut corresponding in every respect to the adjusting nut 52 so-that the plunger will serve as a leakage stop in the end wall to prevent the coating material from spreading beyond the edge'of the material to be coated.

In use, a strip of flexible material of any desired width within the limits of the coating machine is threaded through the machine in the space between the bottom of thetrough 22 and the upper side of the support 30. The guide brackets 31 are then adjusted so as to brin the flanges 45 of the wheels into contact with the side edges of the strip of material so that the surface 44 of each wheel overlies a. narrow strip along the edge of the material to be coated. The wheels or disks 42 are then adjusted vertically by loosening the thumb nuts 42 to provide the proper contact of the strip of material to be coated with the support 20. Having thus adjusted the strip to be coated, the partition wall 48 is moved to a position in substantial alignment with the bracket 21 as illustrated in Figure 1 so that the shoulder 45 aligns with the outer edge of the plunger 54, it being understood that the bracket is moved into proper alignment with relation to the endwali II and the plunger carried thereby. The relation of the trough to the support and the strip of material to be coated is next adjusted to produce the desired thickness of coating by turning the thumb screws 20 about the studs I I so as to accurately determine the space between the upper surface of the material to be coated and the lower edge of the trough. The pressure of the plunger 54 on the side edges of the material to be coated is next adjusted by turning the thumb screws I2 and this pressure is just suflicient to prevent the coating material flowing through the slot 24 in the trough from spreading beyond the side edges of the material to be coated. In other words. these plungers serve as leakage stops at their point of contact with the material to be coated. The material to be coated may then be drawn across the support and it will be seen that it will be held against longitudinal shifting movement with relation thereto. Upon connecting the nipple II with a suitable source of vacuum, it will be seen that the strip of coating material will be held tightly against the support It and upon connecting the nipple 29 with a source of fluid pressure supply, the fluid passing into the interior of the conduit 21 will issue through the openings in the rear side wall of the trough 22 so as to cause the coating material contained within the coinpartment defined by the wall 48 and the end wall 58 to be agitated so that any pigment or heavy substances will be kept in suspension and the homogeneity of the coating material will be preserved.

While I have discussed the machine as containing only one partition wall 4! within the trough, it will be noted that in Figures 1 and 2 a second partition wall is shown. It is obvious that as many partition walls may be used as desired accordin to the width of the material to be coated so that within the trough I may form a number of diflerent compartments in which a coating material may be supplied to each as, for instance, materials of different color, so that the strip of material may be provided with stripes of coating material having diiferent characteristics as to color, or otherwise.

While in the foregoing there has been shown and described the preferred embodiment of this invention, it is to be understood that minor changes in the details of construction and combination and arrangement of parts may be resorted to without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as claimed.

Having thus described the invention, what I claim is:

Coating apparatus for applying one or more stripes of coating material to a moving strip, said apparatus comprising spaced vertical standards between which a moving strip is guided, a tubular support extending between said standards and across the path of the moving strip, said support having a longitudinal row of upwardly disposed openings over which the moving strip passes. a container for coating material mounted for vertical adjustment on the standards above the support, said container having an elongated slot in its bottom which parallels the support and through tvhich coating material is discharged from the container onto the moving strip, parti- WILLIAM H. COWARD;

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PA Number Name Date 440,607 Porter Nov. 11, 1890 601,594 Simpson Mar. 29, 1898 1,505,908 MaoKinnon -..lAug. 19, 1924 1,857,242 Edmondson I. May 10, 1932 2,170,610 Schutz Aug. 22, 1939 2,203,572 Johnson -June 4, 1940 2,274,432 Repsheretal Feb. 24, 1942 2,372,755 Abel] Apr. 3, 1945 

